


But At Least the War is Over

by Doliest



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Multi, Really the entire SU cast will probably appear at some point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 05:32:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11268942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doliest/pseuds/Doliest
Summary: "It's like I told you, Steven. No such thing as a good war. Your mom...she had a lot of regrets from those days. Things that haunted her, that she didn't like to talk about, but felt she had to. It was like...like she was confessing them to me.""And...Zirconium was one of them? Her regrets?""...Steven, Zirconium was the worst of them. I don't think even Rose knew how deep those scars were."---Steven asks Rose's Room what she was hiding. The answer he receives might just destroy every image of his mother he'd managed to hold onto.





	But At Least the War is Over

**Over Five Thousand Years Ago**

“I really think that Carnelian-“

“Shatter Carnelian, AT!” Ruby 5-8XG growled playfully, placing a light kiss on her partner’s gem. “We didn’t shatter Lace Agate and her cronies to let Carnelian tell us when we could…“ She slid her fingers over her partner’s lithe arms, letting her lewd grin finish her sentence for her. It felt so good to be able to show affection in public; no more Agate ‘maintaining discipline.’ (Really, who was she fooling? Just because no one wanted to give her a shine, didn’t mean the rest of them should be punished.)

“XG, we can’t just disregard our duties!” AT objected, shaking her head back and forth, “Carnelian could shatter us too.”

XG snorted, redoubling her attentions on AT’s shoulder-placed gem, “Don’t worry, AT. With Lace and her Pearl shattered, I’m the best operator for the warps there is!” Not that there was much competition; the Peridots had all been such shiners, they’d all had to go, except for 9UI. But she was weird. No one wanted her running the grid.

AT began to shake under her partner’s lavished attentions, a blush lightening the red hue of her face, “Wait...the warps? Why didn’t we shatter them?”

Diamonds, but AT was ditzy. And a worrywart. Why was that attractive? Everything about her was attractive. Maybe she was actually a Pearl, but she came out short and red so they called her a ruby and shipped her out for military service.

A Ruby with a Pearl….well, weirder things had happened. And weirder things could, with Carnelian in charge. “Because Carnelian doesn’t wanna stop here. Yeah, we run this outpost, but we could spread out to the rest of the Sector. Not like we’re the only outpost with real soldier-gems tired of taking orders from uptight Agates.” Her grin becomes less lewd and more excited, “Imagine it- we get the outposts under control-“ pushes AT into an alcove, “-we take the Orion colony-“ and intertwines their fingers, “-and shatter the Galaxy Warp. We turn this whole sector into a closed loop under Carnelian. It would take Homeworld decades to get a ship out here from the next colony! And we’ll have the advantage on the defense.”

“Which is why…they haven’t gotten through yet?” AT murmured, smiling inquisitively at her partner, “You’ve kept the warp shut off from external access. And you’re holding off on re-establishing it..”

“Until those shiners over in the Refinery Outpost can make their cut and follow our lead.” It was going to be glorious.

AT smiled. And then XG felt something sharp rip through her stomach. Make that somethings sharp, which somehow felt slightly worse than only a single sharp thing. She looked down blankly, blinking her one non-gem filled eye, before looking up at the…distinctly pale-grey blades that had sprouted from the arms she was holding.

“AT…when did you get so sharp?” She really wished her last words weren’t a bad pun.

She poofed.

AT stared down, her smile bolted in place as the grey energy seeped off of her, melting over XG’s gem, forming a bubble around it. In a flash, XG stood, reformed, a bolted smile to match AT’s as more and more of the grey energy passed over, until only a small bubble remained.

Around AT’s gem.

AT’s smile began to waver as her eyes darted wildly, as if trying to escape her head.

The grey-energy bubble compressed.

And AT shattered.

XG reached down, flames covering her hands, as she melted away what remained of AT’s ruby. And then steps out of the alcove to do her job.

* * *

 

“I DON’T CARE IF THE DIAMONDS THEMSELVES TAKE THE FIELD. HOLD THE LINE.” Carnelian roared over the communication device to Jasper 7ER, “WE NEED TO RETAKE THE WARP CHAMBER.” How!? How had Homeworld re-established contact!? “TELL ANY GEM WHO CONSIDERS FALLING BACK THAT I’LL FUSE HER SHARDS WITH WHAT’S LEFT OF LACE IF SHE GIVES EVEN AN INCH!”

Homeworld forces were pouring through the Warp Chamber. This was her only shot; box them in, then bring the station security systems to bear on them. If they could retake the chamber, this could all be turned around.

She wasn’t going to lose here; she had plans, damnit! A whole new Gem empire, but without any bloody ‘aristocratic’ gems getting in the way. A real operation, run by gems who knew what they were doing. No more bloody Agates destroying morale with ‘proper discipline.’ No more diversion of resources to some shiner who won the Diamonds favor. No more shattering good, loyal gems who fought against barbarians, for some made up infraction.

She was going to do it!

Assuming 7ER COULD HOLD THE DAMN LINE. She rolled to the side, dodging a green energy blast from a…was that a Nephrite!? “Bit far from your ship, aren’t you, pilot!?” She shot across the hallway, summoning her Warhammer and taking a swing, throwing the frail-bodied gem into the wall.

What was a Nephrite doing in the attack? She wasn’t one of hers- her gem was placed on the backside of her right hand. None of the Nephrites on this station had theirs there. Which meant she had to be part of the incoming force. But Nephrites were pilots. You’d only use one if you were short staffed…

Carnelian didn’t bother to suppress her smirk. However they’d gotten the Warp up, this attack was coming from one of the other outposts. Which mean they could turn this back. Whatever advantage surprise had gotten them, once the security grid was flipped back on and targeted on the contained invaders, this ragtag bunch would be eliminated.

The Nephrite…didn’t stay down. Huh. Tough little shiner, then. The Nephrite looked at her…and started to laugh. Carnelian glared, “What’s so funny, pilot?”

The Nephrite’s eyes- large eyes, with many different sections, like the insects on fresh colonies- seemed to focus on her, and she whispered, “Shattered. You’re all already shattered. You just don’t know it yet.”

Carenlian grinned, easily twirling her massive hammer, “Maybe. Maybe your Diamond-bothering friends will shatter me. But not before I shatter you into a thousand little pieces.” And she burst forward, gripping her hammer so that it would be a second, much harder arc around her speed-ball.

The Nephrite leaped back, her arms and legs pointed backwards and attaching to the wall. Tactile manipulation. Standard Nephrite trick. The Nephrite scampered up the wall, irritatingly quickly in Carnelian’s learned (and completely unbiased) opinion. She slammed into the wall, feeling a dent and a crack, as she directed the spin upward, keeping on her target.

She slammed into the ceiling this time. Which wouldn’t have been a problem normally. Some dents and cracks, but the outpost was well built. The possibility of heavy combat was accommodated for, and so the walls could resist a hit from a Quartz soldier.

A hit on a spot that had previously been weakened by a capable Nephrite, however…

Carnelian roared in rage as slammed not into, but through the ceiling; the ceiling on the floor above her, however, stopped her.

It would have been a good thing if that floor was in friendly hands. Unfortunately, Carnelian had discovered where the stray Nephrite had come from.

She glared at the assortment of Gems that now surrounded her; she saw a few Quartz soldiers of various type, all armed and grinning at her. Not good but she might be able to handle that. A Topaz, which made victory that so unlikely she wanted to curl up into her gem and weep, but she had a chance. A Bismuth which…well. Bismuths were builders, not soldiers. But they were strong. They had to be; so this one was unlikely to make her survival any easier. And…was that a Zircon? If they had Quartzes, even a Topaz, what was a Zircon doing here!? Beyond insulting Carnelian with her presence, obviously.

“Carnelian!” She turned her head slightly; XG. Who should have been making sure this invasion didn’t happen.

“XG, you outer-colony fresh-cut what’s going-?” Wait. XG. Who was in charge of maintaining the closed warp loop. Who was here, walking towards her without a care in the world. “XG.” She began, her eyes narrowing as she blocked out all the other gems. Even the Topaz. “You turned on us.” She doesn’t let her anger slip in. No anger. No sense of betrayal. Just the facts.

XG grinned at her, “Nope; XG’s completely loyal to Carnelian! A bit undisciplined, but what Ruby wouldn’t be with AT around?”

“Well.” Carnelian growled out, still keeping control of her tone, “You seem rather unconcerned about being surrounded, if you’re not on Homeworld’s side.”

XG’s grin grew even wider, as the other gems all started to chuckle. It wasn’t an encouraging sound. “Oh. I am on Homeworld’s side. But XG isn’t.”

Carnelian didn’t have to control her anger now; it was ebbing away in favor of confusion. Oh, it was still there, mind. She was going to shatter XG if it was the last thing she did. But even that impulse was taking a back seat to wanting one of these shiners to let her in on the damned joke.

The Zircon broke first, a dark light in her eyes as she finished her chuckling, “Come on, Phantom. Take off your pretty little dress.”

XG gave a half-bow, as if signaling compliance, and then a grey wave began to pass over her. Energy rising off her, slowly building a separate form, one composed of a sickly, insubstantial grey light. It, for the most part, lacked definitive shape, looking more like an outline of a Gem’s solid form, with all the features left off.

XG could make out a small, grey Quartz gem- the only solid thing in its form- resting where a fang would be on a wild creature on a colony world. It let out a horrible, hissing noise that almost made Carnelian jump.

Almost.

She turned her eyes down onto XG, kneeling on the metal floor, twitching and cursing as her form shook.

The Zircon, a pale white creature with the far too formal appearance her type always kept up, even on a battlefield, tapped her monocle. An image of the Gem, if that’s truly what the grey-energy creature was, appearing. And she began to speak. “Phantom Quartz. A rare breed. Homeworld only created two dozen before deciding they were unreliable, unstable, and too dangerous besides. They can’t generate a full solid-light body like other gems, instead creating a selectively-solid field. This field, while lacking the aesthetics and durability of a normal Gem’s form, allows not only for selective intangibility –even of the Gem- but also to seize control of the existent form of another Gem, such as XG here.”

Correction. Not speaking. Lecturing. Sweet Diamond, if the Zircon’s lecture goes on much longer, she’s going to shatter herself. “So it’s a gem-possessing monster.”

‘Phantom Quartz’ hissed at her. Its hands- claws, really- becoming more solid. It looked like it was about to attack…until a new voice joined them, a melodic laughter ending all discussion. The Zircon dismissed her hologram. Phantom Quartz ceased her attack. Even XG ceased her mutterings, something instinctual responding to the sound of that voice.

Carnelian turned, and saw a giant. She stood at nearly fifteen feet tall, her yellow hair a spikey protrusion stabbing into the air. She wore a long flowing yellow coat, and her heels seemed to be doing their best to torture the ground as she walked.

She was, in short, Yellow Diamond. But only a third the height. Which meant…

“Zirconium.” She shot a glance at the strange assemblage of gems. A Zircon and a Nephrite on a battlefield? A Gem that might actually be the only one of its type? Alongside a Topaz?

She began to chuckle. It was all she could do. Hell. She’d lost to Yellow Zirconium Alpha. She’d lost to Shatter.

Shatter smiled at her, lifting a hand. “Carnelian. I have to admit, this was all a very well-engineered rebellion. And from what I heard, more ambitious than usual.” She waived her hand dismissively, “Most rebellions tend to amount to little more than a particularly unpleasant Agate being shattered, and then the rebels trying not to be shattered in response. But you? You dreamed big, it seems. Your own breakaway Hierarchy.”

This could…this could still work. It could, if Shatter saw reason. “No more aristocratic Gems looking down on proper soldiers. No more wasting resources.”

Shatter’s smile merely became more sharp, “And, of course, you and your closest getting the greatest rewards, instead of Homeworld.”

“Not so terrible, if us at the top are doing something. Unlike the Diamonds.” She’d expect a gasp if she was dealing with normal Homeworld Gems. But you heard things, about Shatter and her legion. That they weren’t normal. That they didn’t do things the normal way. The Diamond’s way.

There were no gasps. Just silence as all the others watched Shatter.

Shatter herself had lost the smile, her face giving no hint if it was just around the corner, or banished to a dark place, unlikely to return. For now, she was just looking at Carnelian impassively.

The silence began to drag, before…”Go on.”

Carnelian allowed herself to hope, and began. “The Gems you’ve brought can bolster my forces. We can move the plan forward at an even faster pace! You can just return to the colony with me and mine ‘captured,’ then, while their defenses are down, we take the colony! Then we have control of the Galaxy Warp, and can take the other outposts easy. We destroy the Galaxy Warp, leaving only the closed system here in this sector, and rule!”

Shatter’s face remained impassive, even as she lifted a hand up to her chin, as if she was giving it thought. “And who would rule, in this new Heirarchy? You, Carnelian? Or I?”

“We could be equals. Like the Diamonds, but-“

That was cut off by a dark chuckle from Shatter. “Ah, yes. Like the Diamonds. No thank you, Carnelian, I’m not interested in your offer to be subordinate to you. Unless you were offering me the senior position?”

Carnelian considered it. Truly considered it. It would be her dream; an empire run right. Shatter was one of Homeworld’s finest military commanders. She was veteran of more campaigns than almost any Gem. She supposedly had an eye for talent in composing her personal legion. And she’d beaten Carnelian. She might run the new empire well. But…

Carnelian began to chuckle again; she'd settled on the final, grim necessity. “I’ve gotten to know real power, Shatter. And I can’t say I’m keen to relinquish it. I don’t think I can bow again.” She offered a cocky grin as she exposed her Gem, “So, I’ll take some pride in that it took Shatter to stop me.”

“Good final words, soldier.” It ended like all of Shatter’s missions did; with her namesake sound.


End file.
